Fixed contracts

Team

Overview

Unknown value of product backlog

Improve product backlog and size

Put the Product Owner in the contract

Put The Product Owner in the Contract BEST PRACTICE – The ‘Pre-nup’ 1.0 The customer must provide an empowered representative ‘The PO’ who: 1.1 Is responsible for providing and maintaining a list of prioritised requirements, which they can change at will. 1.2 This shall be on the only plan. 1.3 Will remain intheir position and operate with freedom regardless of client/supplier relationship status. 1.4 The PO will be told how many sprints are left before every sprint so that they can prioritise accordingly. WHY DO THIS? To avoid the PO being emasculated The PO has complete ownership of the only plan The PO can continue to function at a time when client/supplier relationship threatens delivery of goals/outcomes

Avoid delusion about progress

Practice 1: Customer needs to understand the benefits of the prioritised backlog to be aware of project completeness as stories are completed.

Prioritise backlog according to criteria that allow insight into actual progress. Value and risk are common criteria.

Doing the easiest items first is unlikely to give you the ones that you need to have working software.

Practice 2: Use a Definition of Done (DoD) that avoids rework

Often, the sprint increments are not shippable. Work is postponed, thereby creating a “hidden backlog”. Kinds of work that are often postponed: defects, acceptable performance, integration with other parts of software, integration with 3rd-party services, deployment, testing.

A DoD that forces you to pull up these work items supports a realistic measure of progress.